An online survey from March 2015 (103 participants) raised a question that sounds like a joke but reveals a serious mood: which politician is most similar to Srećko Šojić—the symbol of petty corruption, arrogance, and perpetual scheming from Bela lađa? The answers reveal two parallel images of Serbia: the ideal one citizens want, and the real one they recognise.
When describing a politician “to their taste,” respondents almost reflexively repeat the same words: honesty, sincerity, incorruptibility, and morality. Comments also include the demand that a politician “doesn’t lie,” “keeps promises,” is “oriented toward the people, not themselves,” is not a “demagogue,” and does not act like a “Sun King.” In addition, education, dignity, eloquence, determination, and empathy are frequently mentioned—in short, the profile of a responsible public servant rather than a show-business figure.
However, when the survey moves to the second question—who is Šojić—the tone becomes sharp and cynical. The most frequently mentioned are Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić, alongside many responses like “all of them,” “99%,” “the majority,” or “a combination of all of them.” In addition, respondents often mention Ivica Dačić, Velimir Ilić, Aleksandar Vulin, and Dragan Marković Palma as “Šojić-like” figures. In other words, the survey maps not only individuals, but a perception of the political class as a system in which “armchairs grow roots,” and changes resemble the recycling of the same кадровi through different positions.
An additional signal of apathy appears in the elections question: as many as 61.5% say “I would vote, but I don’t know for whom,” while those who would not vote (19.8%) and those who would spoil/void their ballot (18.8%) are almost evenly split. This is the definition of a political vacuum—there is willingness to choose, but no trust in the available offer.
The sample is slightly male (53.4%), with a median age of 39; by occupation, the unemployed (22.3%) and pupils/students (16.5%) dominate, suggesting strong voices from generations and groups that feel social insecurity most directly. Ideologically, the largest share fall into “something else” (30.1%) or social democrats (19.4%), with a noticeable number of “greens” and “nationalists/right-wing”—but the common denominator is not ideology; it is the suspicion that politics produces characters rather than institutions.
Methodological note: the results were obtained via an online survey on a sample of 103 participants, without a guarantee of representativeness; the findings should be read as an indicative insight into the attitudes of the internet population that participated in the research.